What Is the Past Tense?
The past tense shows that an action, event, or state happened before now. English uses several past forms to show time, duration, and sequence.
Simple Past
Use the simple past for completed actions. Regular verbs usually take -ed, while irregular verbs such as go, take, and see have special forms.
- 1I visited Delhi yesterday.
- 2She studied for the test.
- 3They went home early.
Past Continuous and Past Perfect
Use past continuous for an action in progress at a past time. Use past perfect to show that one past action happened before another past action.
Common Mistakes
Use did with the base verb in questions and negatives, not the past form. Keep the time reference consistent throughout a sentence or paragraph.
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